Oslo court orders 8 weeks detention for attacker

Xinhua, July 26, 2011

The Oslo Tinhaus, the district court, opened on Monday the first hearing on the suspect of Friday's twin attacks, extending his custody for an additional eight weeks.

The ruling was announced by Judge Kim Heger in a press conference immediately following the afternoon hearing, which was not opened to media due to security concerns.

Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian, was identified as the suspect of both the bomb blast in front of the Norwegian prime minister's office and the shooting incident in nearby Utoeya island.

Earlier reports said the twin attacks may have claimed over 93 lives, but on Monday Oslo police downgraded the death toll to 76 persons, due to the renewed counting of death number in Utoeya shooting incident.

The hearing only lasted for less than an hour and no media access was allowed to the court room throughout the process, though the case has attracted spotlights from all across the world.

The ruling said that Breivik would be held in custody until otherwise decided by the persecution of the court, but his custody should not go beyond Sept. 26, 2011.

Further investigation will be carried out during the extended period. And "such investigation must be conducted without the accused having the opportunity to influence or disturb it," the ruling added.

Accordingly, a ban was issued on the suspect, prohibiting him from letters, visits, and access to media throughout the custody period as well as complete isolation until Aug. 22, 2011.

Breivik was not given the chance to speak to media after the hearing.

The judge said the accused had acknowledged the actual deeds of committing both of the attacks, but he had not pleaded guilty, reasoning that he needed to carry out these acts in order to save Norway and western Europe.

Motive of the attacks was cited by the judge as "to give sharp signal to people."

"The accused intended to induce the greatest possible loss to the Labor Party so it in the future will limit recruitment," he said.

The suspect was also quoted as saying that as long as the Labor Party keeps driving its ideological line and keeps deconstructing Norwegian culture, they must assume this "responsibility of treason."

If convicted, Breivik is facing a maximum of 21 years sentence under the Norwegian law.

According to his social media profiles and on online manifesto he posted Friday, hours before the attack, Breivik holds extreme right-wing and anti-Muslim views and is a conservative Christian.